With a sister like she has, keeping her suitor a secret is a must. Have a season. Meet some handsome gentlemen. Be courted by at least one, fall in love, and live happily ever after. That’s all Grace Love wants. However, when a lady has a sister like Grace does, getting what she wants is going to take a bit of subterfuge. When a pretty stranger shares a secret smile with Walter Blakesley in the … stranger shares a secret smile with Walter Blakesley in the park, his curiosity is aroused. Then, when the same lady refuses his offer to dance but not because she does not want to dance with him, his interest in her intensifies, leaving him unable to reject her proposal to meet in secret.
What Walter finds when he finally meets Grace is an intriguing and lively young woman who possesses a tender heart and a determined, yet gentle, spirit. She is exactly what he has been looking for, and he would gladly shout his admiration of her to the world.
However, Grace is unwilling to allow him to proclaim his attachment, for she has lost more than one gentleman to her sister already, and losing Walter would be the greatest devastation imaginable. Unfortunately, no matter what steps Grace has taken to protect herself from such a tragedy, they may not be enough, and a love forged in secret may only ever be a bittersweet memory of what could have been.
Her Secret Beau is the third book in Leenie Brown’s Touches of Austen series. If you like coming-of-age stories where the heroine discovers the depth and faithfulness of abiding love while the hero stands stalwartly by her side as she does, then you’ll enjoy this sweet Regency romance about secret smiles, clandestine meetings, dissimulation, and indelible love.
So, put the kettle on, grab your copy of Her Secret Beau, and join Grace and Walter as they pretend not to be courting while irrevocably losing their hearts to each other.
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Previous books in this series:
His Beautiful Bea (Graeme and Beatrice’s story)
His Darling Friend (Roger and Victoria’s story)
more
Third in the Touches of Austen Collection: Rating: clean: Although this book doesn’t nod to a specific Austen novel, there are characters and plot elements that will.
Book 1: His Beautiful Bea: [Beatrice Tierney & Graeme Clayton]
Book 2: His Darling Friend: [Victoria Hamilton & Roger Shelton]
Book 3: Her Secret Beau: [Grace Love & Walter Blakesley]
If Maria Bertram [Mansfield Park] was your elder sister… how would you proceed if a handsome man wanted to court you? That was the dilemma facing Miss Grace Love [a second sister much like Julia Bertram]. Her naïveté reminded me of Harriet Smith [Emma] or Catherine Morland [Northanger Abbey]. She was a sweet girl lacking knowledge of the world at large.
In the previous book [His Darling Friend], we saw just how fickle and pernicious the elder sister, Miss Felicity Love, could be. She cried off an attachment/match with Mr. Everett Clayton in order to pursue Mr. Ramsey whom she felt, was the better match. Throughout book 2, Felicity was horrid as she spread scandalous rumors about Miss Hamilton and walked all over Grace’s sensibilities. There were so many more comparisons to Austen’s works to mention.
After that disastrous Abernathy house party in book two, Grace was now bitter and disillusioned. Her sentiments [similar in nature to a Jane Bennet] had completely changed and she no longer felt her sister Felicity was all that was good. Grace now knew the truth; her sister was horrid.
As the younger sister, Miss Grace had been promised a season and since her sister lost Mr. Clayton… she now needed to continue the season so she could pursue Mr. Ramsey. Half of Grace’s new gowns were quickly given over to Felicity so she could continue her hunting… um… courting with Mr. Ramsey. This third book continued that thread although it was secondary to Miss Grace meeting Mr. Walter Blakesley. Grace understood she would have to act as she knew her sister all too well and the fact their mother would support whatever Felicity wanted. In her plans, Miss Grace convinced Mr. Blakesley, well, made him promise two things: first, to never dance with Felicity and second to never let on that he was interested in her/Grace.
This was such a delightful story. Grace was such an innocent. She didn’t realize anyone could be interested in her when her sister was near. She very soon discovered that was not the case. I enjoyed the crossover visits from people from the first and second books. They are such wonderful friends to Grace and add a lot to this story. There will be heartache and a bit of angst before the HEA.
What a lovely story. I highly recommend this delightful book. I received an ARC [Advanced-Reader-Copy] with no expectations of a review. I first read this as installments on the author’s website/newsletter. The views expressed are my own opinion of this work. I have preordered this so I will have my own copy when it releases on Jan 21, 2020.